By Amanda Beemer
Since attending Saturday’s somewhat uneventful match against Chivas, one thing has been running through my mind: if we can’t beat the fake goats at home, how are we going to beat Toronto away?
For what it’s worth, here’s a (very) brief recap: Baggio Husidic scored his second career goal (with his feet this time, not his chest) in the 52nd minute, with assists from Marco Pappa and Patrick Nyarko, who managed to once again draw the keeper out of the net before passing to Husidic for the finish. The equalizer came courtesy of Chivas midfielder Maicon
Santos in the 76th minute. Incidentally, the match was the 200th of forward Brian McBride’s MLS career.
For the first time this season, we were lacking a few key players last weekend, such as defender Krzysztof Krol, who was replaced by the El Salvadoran Deris Umanzor. In addition, Justin Mapp had to come off in the 22nd minute after injuring his lower left leg. And for whatever reason, head coach Carlos de los Cobos seemed to pull a Denis Hamlet by substituting Stefan Dimitrov in for Brian McBride in the 88th minute. However, by next Saturday Krol will be back, Mapp should be healed, and hopefully de los Cobos will have made the decision to be a bit more aggressive with his forward substitutions.
As for track records, Toronto is undefeated at home, but has lost all four matches abroad, whereas Chicago is 1-1-1 both at home and away. Chicago is currently tied with the Columbus Crew for second place in the Eastern Conference standings, whereas Toronto is down at sixth. Although Toronto’s home field advantage is well known, it will likely not phase the Fire. Hopefully next Saturday will provide the Fire with an opportunity to re-assert their aggressiveness, and to garner the points needed to be the sole club in second place. Suffice it to say that come Saturday I’ll be expecting a tie, but crossing my fingers for a win.
Amanda is a long-time Chicago resident and an avid Chicago Fire fan, and has been following MLS for the better part of a decade. Although she makes an awesome spectator, she is a god-awful player. She can be reached at acabeemer@gmail.com
